1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to devices having utility in the game of golf. More particularly, it relates to a device in the form of a putter that enables a golfer to read the slope of a green.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Whether or not a golfer makes or beats par on a hole usually depends on how well the golfer putts. Many players can reach the green in as many swings as a professional player, but few can consistently make the critical putt or putts needed to score eagles, birdies, or to make par.
One of the major obstacles to making putts is the slope of the green; a slope that is barely noticeable can change an easy putt into a difficult putt. Many golfers even have difficulty in determining whether or not a particular green is sloped, and if so, in which direction, especially where the slope is not steep.
Most players circle the hole, kneeling down at differing locations thereabout, in an attempt to better understand the slope of the green; this ritual slows the game down. Just as importantly, the ritual is performed because no one knows a better way to read the slope of the green. Even more importantly, this well-known technique is substantially ineffective; missed putts resulting from improper reading of the slope of the green are commonplace, regardless of how much time and effort the golfer put into circling the hole and looking at the slope of the green from many different vantage points.
A number of inventors have designed putting aids that teach a golfer how to hold the putter, how to swing it, and so on. Moreover, inventors have designed putter heads of many differing varieties in an attempt to make putting more accurate. However, a device that simply measures the slope of the green and provides a visual report to the golfer as to said slope is not found in the prior art.
It follows that the prior art, when considered as a whole as required by law, neither taught not suggested to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention, at the time the present invention was made, how a device that could perform such direct measurement and which could provide such visual report should be constructed.